David Ilan to Present Mummies and Treasure: Portrayal of Archaeology in Film

Archaeology is usually portrayed in film as a swashbuckling adventure — think Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider, and The Mummy. Why is archaeology portrayed as a rip-roaring adventure or as a
source of supernatural phenomena? Social psychology plays a part, as does our society’s relationship with the distant past. Are there any films that show archaeology as it really is? Can such a film even be made? Let’s start thinking about a script…

A native of Los Angeles, David llan is the director of the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology at the Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem. He has excavated at Tel Arad, Tel Megiddo, and Tel Dan. He teaches at the Hebrew Union College and has taught at Tel Aviv University, Hebrew University, and Johns Hopkins University. He specializes in mortuary archaeology, religion, and ritual in the Chalcolithic period, the Middle Bronze Age, and the early Iron Age of the southern Levant. Since 2005, he has directed the excavations at Tel Dan in northern Israel. He is the editor of the journal NGSBA Archaeology.

Wednesday, November 9 | 11:30 am- 1:15 pm at the Boulder JCC, 6007 Oreg Ave, Boulder
Please join us for a post-program social with light fare and refreshments from 12:30 – 1:15 pm

The cost is $15 if you REGISTER in advance or $18 at the door.